Seattle Sounders: No Supporters’ Shield, no dynasty

Recently, Cristian Roldan and Jordan Morris discussed whether the Seattle Sounders are a dynasty. Until the team has won a Supporters’ Shield, however, they cannot be considered as such.

Are the Seattle Sounders’ a dynasty?

In reality, these discussions don’t really mean anything. Who cares if Seattle are or are not a dynasty. It is not as though they get another trophy once they are handed dynasty status. However, the debate does provide a peek into how we value the different achievements of teams.

First, let’s run through what the Sounders have won in recent years. Starting in 2016, Seattle made three in four MLS Cups. They won two of those, beating Toronto FC on both occasions while losing to the Reds in 2017. They did not win any other competitions, never getting past the quarter-finals in the U.S. Open Cup, and never even finished top of the Western Conference.

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In fact, the Sounders were elite when it came to the playoffs: they are superb in knockout football and they know how to perform when it matters most. They are elite winners of MLS Cup, and that should, of course, be praised, revered and celebrated. But their regular-season troubles — I say troubles, they still finished fourth, second, second, and second in the West the last four years — help complete the picture.

This week, Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan were asked the same question: Are the Seattle Sounders a dynasty. Neither wanted to commit to an answer, of course, but Morris did show a little glint of happiness at the success he and his teammates have enjoyed, while also protesting that they cannot take their foot off the gas.

“I think it’s obviously an honor to be a part of a team that’s considered to be in that group,” he told Taylor Twellman and ESPN FC. “I mean you see in the last few years we’ve had some great success. I think to really get to that point, I think we just need to keep going. We want to match other teams with more MLS Cups. And I think in the last couple of years, we’ve done really, really well. But I think the whole goal as an organization is to keep going and to keep pushing and to keep winning more and more MLS Cups.”

Roldan, however, took a more measured approach, highlighting the same problem that I have with calling them a dynasty.

“It’s great to be mentioned in the dynasty world,” Roldan said. “However, we still need to win more Supporters’ Shields. We still need to get on that. We’ve won MLS Cups recently, but when was the last time we won a Supporters’ Shield? So I think that’s where we need to get to — to win multiple trophies in one year.”

Not only have the Sounders not won a Supporters’ Shield during this recent run, they have never been dominant in the regular season, which is a much more accurate litmus test for the true quality of a team. Los Angeles FC, the New York Red Bulls, Atlanta United and Toronto have all produced better seasons than Seattle, and some of them on more than one occasion.

While football is about winning titles and trophies, to be considered a dynasty, you must entirely dominate the league. And the Sounders have not done that.